The All Blacks work out together in Mendoza. Video / NZ Rugby
OPINION:
Mendoza sits at the foothills of the Andes, nestled in the heart of Argentinian Malbec country. It is a fitting location for the All Blacks to start their campaign. In this World Cup year, they sure have a towering mountain to scale.
A new test season often brings aclean slate. Ushering in six rookies for the truncated Rugby Championship gives the impression the All Blacks are embarking on something of a fresh start, when the theme of this year is instead weighed heavily in favour of continuity and cementing combinations.
The bulk of the established team and management therefore carry more baggage than, perhaps, any before them into a World Cup year.
The All Blacks will suggest they have moved on but the scar tissue from last year’s historic lows - the home series loss to Ireland; the maiden defeat to the Pumas in New Zealand, firing two assistant coaches, Ian Foster saving his job and the public fractures with the national body, remain visible.
Sure, Richie McCaw shouldered the hefty burden of New Zealand’s anxious 24-year World Cup drought as he soldiered through a broken foot to lead the All Blacks to their shaky 2011 title on home soil.
By that point, though, McCaw had largely emerged from the deafening outcry following the unthinkable 2007 World Cup quarter-final exit.
In a little over three months, the All Blacks face that same moment of truth in Paris where they are likely to meet Ireland or South Africa in their World Cup quarter-final. From Mendoza to Auckland, Melbourne to Dunedin and London in the coming weeks, each of those five tests builds to that defining juncture.
Should the All Blacks conquer their quarter-final hurdle and progress to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, it would rank among New Zealand sport’s greatest recoveries.
Gazing up at the Andes, they stand a long way from such a triumph, though.
Jordie Barrett and Beauden Barrett are starting against Argentina tomorrow. Photo / Getty Images
Last year can be viewed as a split season. From falling to No 5 in the world, to the resuscitation that ensued.
For all the genuine improvements since Jason Ryan’s introduction as forwards coach and Joe Schmidt joining as a full-time assistant, the All Blacks begin this season cast in the shadow of last year’s avalanche of scrutiny.
That’s because the lingering memory is the final test of the season where the All Blacks collapsed from a 19-point lead with 10 minutes remaining at Twickenham to draw against an English team that lost 27-13 to South Africa the following week.
Such a deflating conclusion shaped the context of an All Blacks season like no other, leaving everything to prove this year.
The harsh experiences of last year internally galvanised the All Blacks. They could yet prove cathartic. The core of the squad who lived through the depths of those struggles and frustrations have the calluses that now represent resolve.
Foster and his departing management carry a weighty chip on their shoulders, too, after being cast aside beyond the World Cup.
Traversing back to this weekend and the All Blacks’ opening Rugby Championship assignment, their ascent restarts not from rock bottom base camp but halfway to their revered, rarefied air summit.
Reasons for optimism can be sourced from Ryan’s profound transformation of the forward pack – the vast improvement in the carry height and maul defence in particular.
The set piece platform has regained its backbone, too, and the selection of loose forwards who possess heavy shoulders and high work-rates speaks to the ruthless demands on the low numbers to dominate collisions.
Wider out interest abounds about whether Emoni Narawa can kick on from lighting up Super Rugby this season. Of all the rookies, the Chiefs wing with the finishing prowess, sound defence and calm clearance kick is best placed to bolt into the World Cup starting frame.
Selection for the Pumas strongly indicates risks elsewhere will be kept to a minimum, though. Foster will retain faith in those who summoned the salvage job in the second half of last season.
The Pumas aren’t the headline pre-World Cup act – that mantle belongs to the Springboks at Mt Smart Stadium next weekend – which partly explains the low-key anticipation surrounding the All Blacks first fixture of the year.
Yet with two historic away victories against the All Blacks in the last three years, the Pumas under Michael Cheika cannot be discounted.
In 15 ventures to Argentina, the All Blacks are yet to lose but the tense 20-16 victory in their last trip in 2019 offers a pointer to the challenge that awaits.
As they did in Christchurch last year the Pumas will attempt to pressure the All Blacks through David Kidwell’s swarming defence, suffocate their breakdown, and scrap their way to a maiden success that would send locals into vino-fuelled raptures.
The Mendoza mountaineering mission won’t define the All Blacks season but after the frequent tremors of last year, regaining a sense of poise would go some way to thawing lingering doubts.
